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We have a political situation in the United States where Democrats are too eager to build anything if it creates a job and the Republicans are too willing to call a project a boondoggle without first investigating its merit. It is this standstill that Josh Barro argues in How Republicans Made Both Parties Stupid On Fixing Infrastructure: Republicans aren’t interested in coming up with smarter, more efficient ways to build rail infrastructure. So;Democrats fear that if they don’t defend wasteful, ill-conceived rail projects, they won’t get any at all. Barro uses the example of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie killing a proposed $10 billion railway tunnel into New York City; The project was overly expensive and the terminal, in particular, was unnecessary — New York Penn Station, which currently receives trains from New Jersey, has plenty of platforms, they’re just used inefficiently today. We could much more cheaply build a new … [Read more...] about The Politics of Dumb Infrastructure

With the exception of a brief visit by a few to Cook County in the winter of 1980, the only Caribou found in the state of Minnesota since the days of settlement have come with baristas and free wifi access. These days, the largest herd of caribou in North America reside 2,300 miles to the northwest in Alaska’s northern coastal plain. The Porcupine Caribou, whose numbers are estimated to be around 160,000, have their calving grounds along the Porcupine River. The area is also home to all three species of America’s bears, wolves, and muskoxen. Millions of birds representing some 180 species migrate to the Coastal Plain to nest, rear their young, molt and feed. Birds from all 50 states and six continents migrate to this geographic region. In 1960, with Alaska in its first full year of statehood, President Eisenhower set aside 8.9 million acres of federal land as the Arctic National Wildlife Range, in order to protect it from development. In 1980, President … [Read more...] about Large Herd of Caribou, Hold the (political) Froth

There is a time and a place for politics. Heck, every few years as November rolls around, it may even seem there are too many places for politics. But one place politics does not belong is in the laboratories that help establish our public health standards. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has a solid reputation of being the independent protectors of the state’s lakes, air and lands. The agency houses an impressive collection of experts who are all charged with working to protect the health of all Minnesotans by protecting our air and water from pollution. They have been directed by past legislatures and Governors to make decisions based on science and not politics. But apparently that era of independent decision-making may be coming to a close. This year the Minnesota legislature is in the process of debating four bills that would undermine the authority of the MPCA and replace science with politics as the deciding factor for what is best for the … [Read more...] about Minnesota legislators put politics above public health

Two years after he bowed out of the political arena, former state lawmaker Tom Rukavina is jumping back in. "I missed it, to be honest with you. I just missed being able to work a room and I missed being with people," said Rukavina, one of three candidates vying for a nonpartisan seat on the St. Louis County Board. Rukavina, a Democrat, retired from the Legislature in 2012, stepping down from the seat he held for 26 years. He filed the paperwork for his new campaign on Tuesday morning. "For the past year and a half, people would come up to me and say, 'Oh, Rukavina, thank you for your service. We really wish you were still in politics.' So I'm going to see if they really meant it or not," he said with a laugh. The Mesabi Daily News reports that he faces former Cook City Councilwoman Kirsten Reichel and Vermilion Lake Township resident Christina Hujanen in the nonpartisan election. The job offers a full-time salary of about $55,000 and, Rukavina said, the opportunity "to be home … [Read more...] about It’s official: Rukavina files paperwork for his return to politics

If the Legislature adjourns on time Monday night, the Capitol will be a much less active place come Tuesday. For this, conservationists and others who worry about Minnesota’s lands, waters and wildlife will be thankful, because this session generally is believed to be one of the worst for their interests — which should be everyone’s interests — in many years. Yet, whatever the final details of environment legislation developed this session in St. Paul, or anti-environment legislation, lessons learned during these past few months by conservationists regarding the breadth and degree of ongoing threats to this state’s wetlands, woods and critters should prompt new approaches to resource stewardship. Either that or the political forces that intend each session to chip away at the protection, enhancement and acquisition for public use of the state’s natural resources will become more emboldened in their efforts — this while the general citizenry … [Read more...] about Political assault on state’s natural resources demands a united response